This invention is described in our Disclosure Document #476325 filed Jun. 29, 2000.
Inflation needles are commonly needed around the home for a variety of uses. Some of these uses are for inflation of sports balls, some tires, air mattresses, and the like. Inflation needles are usually sold three to a package. Once the cardboard and plastic package is opened and the first needle is used, the other two quickly get lost. The first needle is often left attached to the hose of an air pump and gets bent. It breaks when you attempt to straighten it out.
The search for an inflation needle usually starts on the way out of the door before a game, or a camping trip, and requires a quick stop at the sporting goods store, because the ones previously purchased cannot be found.
Storage racks for some small articles are also known, such as the rack described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,794 to Drower. These racks, however, are not suited to inflation needles, because the needles are so small, need to have a secure holder and need to be able to be attached to a specific location at the choice of the user, which may be fixed or portable.
The inflation needle storage rack of the present invention comprises one or more elongated members each having two or more cross-members, each of the cross-members having a slotted hole or a hole adapted to hold one inflation needle. The elongated members have a double-sided adhesive, one side attached to the rear of each elongated member, so that the outer side of the adhesive may be attached to any convenient surface determined by the user, such as a wall, gym bag, pump, tool box or other location, to prevent loss of the inflation needles.
This provides an easy, practical place to store inflation needles so that they are easily located when needed. The storage rack is made of either a pliable or rigid material, such as plastic, and has holes and/or slotted holes in cross-members to accomodate the stems of the inflation needles, which fit snugly into the holes or slots. The adhesive backing allows the storage rack to be attached to almost any surface.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inflation needle storage rack to prevent loss of the needles.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a device so that the storage needles are always available at a known location, when needed.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an inflation needle storage rack which holds one or more inflation needles and can be attached to almost any surface.